$100 in 1976 is worth $254 in 1993,
because prices increased 154.0% over that period, an average of
5.64% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$254
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
154.0%
Average inflation rate
5.64% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$254
Price difference ($100 base)
$154
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1976 → 1993
$254
$100 in 1993 → 1976
$39.38
What happened to prices between 1976 and 1993
Between 1976 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 154.0%, which works out to an average of
5.64% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.39 buys in 1993: the 1976 dollar
lost 60.6% of its purchasing power over
these 17 years.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
Every 1976 amount converts to 1993 at the same ratio, 2.54: $1,000 becomes
$2,540, and $10,000 becomes $25,395.
Amount in 1976
Value in 1993
$1.00
$2.54
$5.00
$12.70
$10.00
$25.40
$20.00
$50.79
$50.00
$127
$100
$254
$500
$1,270
$1,000
$2,540
$5,000
$12,698
$10,000
$25,395
$100,000
$253,954
$1,000,000
$2,539,543
Inflation by spending category, 1976–1993
Between 1976 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 287.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 77.8%, against 154.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.64%
$254
Medical care
8.29%
$387
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.90%
$265
Housing
5.84%
$262
Transportation
5.20%
$237
Energy
5.05%
$231
Food
4.99%
$229
Apparel
3.44%
$178
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 1993
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.40% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–1993 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1976, at end
1976–1980
9.70%
44.8%
$145
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$230
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$254
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $183 by
1984, on its way to $254 in 1993; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and the smallest rise was 1.9% in 1986.
In 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $254; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 1993: $100 is worth $254 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-1993/